The invention relates to a frame for a vehicle sliding sunroof or slide-and-tilt sunroof.
Such a known frame (DE 40 14 487 C1) is designed at the joints between the corner areas of a front member and side members so that the ends of the guide tubes project over the corner areas of the front member and can be inserted into cable guide channels in the side members. This is intended, during assembly, to provide the connection between front member and side members with the torsional rigidity and dimensional accuracy deemed necessary, so that these projecting guide tube ends serve as assembly aid for assembling and aligning the longitudinal members and the front member of the frame. In addition, this is also intended to provide a smooth transition between the projecting ends of the guide tubes and the guide channels in the side members.
This, however, gives rise to a stepped construction at the transitional points between the tube ends and the guide channels, which can lead during displacements of the drive cable to unwanted noise when the wire helical windings run over the steps. Furthermore, particularly in the case of a drive device equipped with electric motor, unwanted motor vibrations may be transmitted by the guide tubes directly to the metal side members.
An object of the invention is to provide a frame for a vehicle sliding sunroof or slide-and-tilt sunroof, in which no noise is generated and no motor vibrations can be transmitted at the transitional points between the guide tubes of the front member and the guide channels of the side members.
According to the present invention, there is provided a frame for a vehicle sliding sunroof or slide-and-tilt sunroof, which frame can be fitted beneath a fixed roof surface and is designed to guide and support a slidable or slidable and tiltable cover associated with a corresponding roof opening in the fixed roof surface, and which has two metal side members arranged parallel with one another and a front member formed as a plastic injection molded part, which as transition to the side members has molded-on corner areas, the side members having guide channels in which drive cables are guided in a compressive rigid manner, the cables being drive-connected to the cover, guided on the side members by means of guide shoes, running in guide tubes fitted to the front member and engaging with a drive device arranged on the front member for the displacement of the drive cables in the guide tubes and the guide channels, wherein the guide tubes each terminate in the corner areas of the front member at an interval in front of the associated guide channels of each of the side members, and wherein the said intervals are spanned by plastic connectors fixed both to the corner areas and to the side members.
Owing to the interval between the guide tube ends and the guide channels, or the metal side members having the guide channels, the guide tubes are, to an extent, isolated from the side members, so that the direct transmission of vibrations between these elements is avoided. The intervals between the guide tube ends and the guide channels in the side members also ensure that no stepped formations occur between these different sections of the drive cable ducting.
The plastic connectors may be designed as separate parts, which when duly positioned can be connected to the corner areas of the front member on the one hand and to the side members on the other, by clip connections, for example, but the connectors preferably form an integral part of the actual corner areas themselves.
The ends of the guide tubes may be molded in plastic inside the corner areas, a hollow space in the connector, spanning the interval to the respective, associated guide channel in the side member, adjoining and aligning with each guide tube.
The guide tubes and also the inlet ends of the cable guide channels may widen out in a funnel shape, in order to avoid any stepped formation inside the drive cable ducting.
Serving a similar object, according to which the cross-sectional dimensions of the hollow spaces may be greater than the inside diameters of the guide tubes and the cable guide channels. In this way, during slide movements the drive cables do not come into contact with the inside walls of the hollow spaces, which may appropriately be of cylindrical shape.
In order to ensure easy alignment of the guide tube ends with the cable guide channels when joining the front member to the side members, plastic supporting projections for the side members and lateral stops for the side members are advantageously and integrally molded on to the corner areas. These projections can be used to obtain an easily joined union of the frame members. Screw connections led through the projections and the side members may be used for this purpose.